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Tottenham Hotspur are still attempting to sign a new striker ahead of the January transfer window closing at 11pm on Friday night.

While Jose Mourinho was clearly downbeat about the club's failure to bring in a new forward to fill the gap left by the injured Harry Kane at his press conference on Friday afternoon Spurs are still trying to bring a striker to boost their top four chances.

There is the very real possibility that the north London club could manage to end a second transfer window without having replaced veteran back-up striker Fernando Llorente.

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The problem for Spurs during this window is that they have not been prepared to gamble on their main striker targets, due to the lack of top level options available in January, leaving Mourinho preparing for life without a forward.

"I am not expecting. The market is open so anything can happen but I'm not expecting," he said.

"I have to answer yes, it would be better with a striker. Yes, we would need a striker to have a better squad to face the great challenges in front of us in three different competitions. But we want to do things not to resolve the problems of today or tomorrow but things that are also good for the future.

"With the difficulties of the market in January, it was really hard to find the striker that is good not just to resolve the problems of today but also the future of the team. So probably we're not going to do it."

As Mourinho alluded to, Tottenham's aim was to bring in a younger striker who would be one for the future as well as the now and could develop alongside or as a back-up to Kane.

January is a month when, due to their own objectives, few clubs are looking to part with their strikers, particularly ones able to play at Champions League level.

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Spurs identified AC Milan's 24-year-old Krzysztof Piatek as fitting the role they required as one for now and the future after a stunning season in Italy where he scored 30 goals in the last campaign.

However, as he was scouted heavily this season in Serie A it became clear that the effects of him dropping down the pecking order at Milan and the return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic had affected his confidence and performances.

Milan wanted a deal upwards of £25m including add-ons for the Poland international but Spurs were not willing to gamble for such a sum, having been burned before by a young striker with a big season behind him in Vincent Janssen.

Piatek would be brought from one tough situation to another at Spurs and there were worries he might struggle to hit the ground running.

Tottenham discussed a loan deal for Piatek with an option for a future fee should he prove to be a success but Milan wanted more financial obligation involved and ultimately Hertha Berlin offered what they wanted and sealed a deal for the striker.

Tottenham have also not been helped by Manchester United and Chelsea both scouring the market for forwards with their bigger financial muscle.

The route to Giroud appears to have been pretty much closed now by Chelsea who are struggling to secure a striker themselves. That remains so unless the Blues can secure a late move for someone, having been rebuffed in their attempts to sign Dries Mertens from Napoli.

Sociedad released a statement on Friday morning making it clear that their transfer business was done for the month. Tottenham had not followed up on their initial enquiries into signing Jose more than a week ago due to the figures involved, the north London club again preferring a loan for an untested striker.

A late move for Luis would be made near impossible by the need to get a work permit for the Cape Verdean.

Slimani remains a short term option, but the chase for the 31-year-old, who struggled in the Premeir League, is fraught by not only apparent interest from Chelsea and United, but the fact that Monaco are not keen to cut short his loan from Leicester.

Tottenham are exploring other options in the window's final hours to provide Mourinho with the target man type he utilises in his system.

Big name attackers such as Edinson Cavani and Gareth Bale are on enormous wages that would not fit into Spurs' wage structure.

The preference would be a British player or one with Premier League experience, to lessen the risk, but both types of player come at a premium in January.

Llorente's future at Napoli remains unclear after a proposed move to Inter fell through. Christian Benteke has been looked at but Crystal Palace are not keen on a loan move and Cenk Tosun's injury would also throw doubt on the Belgian leaving this month.

Mourinho admitted it will be tough for Spurs to reach their objectives without a striker.

"I cannot hide. If I say it's easy to play three competitions without a striker, I'm going to lie. I cannot lie. You know that's important for us," he said.

"If it's not possible [to sign one], its not possible. For me the great thing is that we're all together on this in the club. There's nobody to blame and say you could didn't do your job well or you could do better than you did. Not at all.

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"Again we don't want a striker to just help us now, to be useful for us. We wants a striker to be good for our future, possible to play with Harry Kane together in the future.

"With the difficulties of the market, it is very, very difficult to find [one]. To find a winger that fits in our way of playing – young, creative, enthusiastic with a lot of develop, that can also create a connection with the fans because we know what the Tottenham fans wants – we found with Stevie [Bergwijn] this profile of player.

"It's not the perfect situation but it's where we are. The good things for me are always the feelings, the positive feelings – and we're together on this. As a team we have to face the rest of the season the way it is and give everything we can to have the best possible results."

Mourinho is planning for life without a striker, should Spurs fail to bring one in before 11pm.

That involved Bergwijn playing in his favoured position on the left, which would free up Son Heung-min to play through the centre.

While the Spurs boss has previously made it clear that he does not consider the South Korean star to be a striker, Son has stepped up previously when Kane has been out in the central role.

Time is ticking away before he will know whether he is set to be called upon once again.